Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle Reading App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

In earlier times, people felt the need to leave a permanent record of who they were and what they stood for. Nowadays people tend to keep quiet about those things, at least in their final resting place. But many have found a new fascination in wandering about an old graveyard. They are often touched and moved by what they read there. Those people of former generations have much to say to us, although with great economy of words because each letter had to be chiseled in stone with hand tools.

{"currencyCode":"USD","itemData":[{"priceBreaksMAP":null,"buyingPrice":12.95,"ASIN":"0911469109","moqNum":1,"isPreorder":0},{"priceBreaksMAP":null,"buyingPrice":9.72,"ASIN":"0761126090","moqNum":1,"isPreorder":0}],"shippingId":"0911469109::H14cHnYRMlLlAL0%2FKKrqMcUR4huLy25fg9M1Z3PduAUhwSeIcHGKutDXRgKn6bSRt%2FWkx%2Bg8YL7LK9wrrkxCsb7FJ9vmRBaNlIAmGC1Mz1A%3D,0761126090::%2FuYVaZ%2BRePmvJFBXeDwq3gP4laVULa4sogF4AVnpkYrwWNj3tjqHVp2PDJ8zZ75LxUDhEw56R5O0JrqEE6j3tsZBAQNdlBk7JVcY3mNIddE%3D","sprites":{"addToWishlist":["wl_one","wl_two","wl_three"],"addToCart":["s_addToCart","s_addBothToCart","s_add3ToCart"],"preorder":["s_preorderThis","s_preorderBoth","s_preorderAll3"]},"shippingDetails":{"xy":"same"},"tags":["x","y","z","w"],"strings":{"addToWishlist":["Add to Wish List","Add both to Wish List","Add all three to Wish List","Add all four to Wish List"],"addToCart":["Add to Cart","Add both to Cart","Add all three to Cart","Add all four to Cart"],"showDetailsDefault":"Show availability and shipping details","shippingError":"An error occurred, please try again","hideDetailsDefault":"Hide availability and shipping details","priceLabel":["Price:","Price for both:","Price for all three:","Price For All Four:"],"preorder":["Pre-order this item","Pre-order both items","Pre-order all three items","Pre-order all four items"]}}

Special Offers and Product Promotions

Editorial Reviews

Review

"These epitaphs reveal a full range of religious concepts, personal histories and marriages, eccentricities and moral admonitions, wrenching grief and a surprising amount of humor. You may start with one or two but inevitably become fascinated, drawn to page after page of a striking series of testimonies remembering our forebears in stone. Lee Pennock Huntington, VT Sunday Magazine "

From the Publisher

In earlier times, people felt the need to leave a permanent record of who they were and what they stood for. Nowadays people tend to keep quiet about those things, at least in their final resting place. But many have found a new fascination in wandering about an old graveyard. They are often touched and moved by what they read there. Those people of former generations have much to say to us, although with great economy of woods because each letter had to be chiseled in stone with hand tools. Author Janet Greene and her late husband founded The Stephen Greene Press in 1957. Under the Greenes the company became one of the most respected small presses in America. In addition, she has written several books and is often heard on Public Radio stations around the country.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

This little book traces the development of the gravestone epitaph, from the earliest days of America's settlement, to the 20th century. Some are amusing, some a bit scary, some give lessons to the reader. The author explains why certain themes were chosen and how they reflect the times in which the stones were made. Fun and fascinating.

When my daughter was in collage, she and a friend occasionally wandered through cemeteries to read the epitaphs. This was a perfect birthday book for her. She spent most of the time during her birthday dinner reading to us from it.

I recommend this collection of epitaphs because they give a fascinating insight into the lives and deaths of past New Englanders. However, on page one of the author's commentary, I was stunned to see her erroneous statement that Benjamin Franklin was a Quaker!

Benjamin Franklin was not a Quaker. He was baptized in 1706, at the Old South Church congregation's Cedar Meeting House on downtown Washington Street, Boston. In Philadelphia he occasionally worshiped at Christ Church, the Church of England parish established in colonial Philadelphia in 1695 and later reorganized into the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America.

Because of this factual error, I found it difficult to trust the accuracy of the commentary and hence, the author's analysis. But, her collection is most excellent and for that reason, the reader will be rewarded.

My dad had knee surgery recently, and we were joking that his epitaph would have to include the fact that he now has a part from a cadaver. I wanted to get him a book of FUNNY epitaphs, and this one is full of the overblown poetry about the nature of death. Which is fine, if that's what you're looking for, but I wanted something different.